Question about iron golem

[:1]Well, it's rather simple, I think

I've been building my new necro the last few days, and I've been planning to build the generic fishymancer, besides that I'm interested in using semi decent to good items for my iron golem, making him both survive and maybe deal some extra damage.

Now what I'm wondering is, what skills would be best to beef him up and make him harder?

Should I put points into golem mastery to give him general boosts, should I put points spread out into fire, blood, iron and clay so he get's a general boost in damage?

Also, can he lifesteal?

I have quite a lot of points to spare on him, so I hope someone can help me out here |||Hm iron golem is good in inheriting item bonuses but not the Damage itself. Although i dont know the formulas which determine IG's damage (does he have str or his natural damage to apply?), it is probably pointless to make IG the second damage dealer after your merc. The attack speed is pretty slow (~15 frames and he makes HUGE pauses between attack animations so actual hits/second value is even lower) and it cant benefit from helm/armor like your merc does. Probably it will end up with 3k damage max on average (made from uber runeword and after might aura applies) or even lower while infy-might-forti merc has 6k average and strikes 5 times faster. If you want a cheap suggestion how to test it, make IG from eth obedience and let him kill things without merc. I had IG from berserker axe beast (non-eth however) and it took him ~4 seconds to kill regular (non-champion or unique) monster in hell along with might aura but I had only 1 point in fire golem so.

Golem is generally very durable, thanks to hell's big base health even 1 point in golem mastery boosted with +skills items will give huge bonus to health and further maxing golem mastery wont do much difference.

Investing in blood golem gives 5% hp while golem mastery 20% so dont bother.

Investing in clay golem gives 20 AR and isnt boosted by anything else (unless you make it from beast or wear beast your self). IG also receives hidden AR bonus from your necromancer's level so on level 90 it might have 4k or 4.5k AR and those 400 from clay wont even make any sense.

Investing in iron golem raises defense and thorns damage. Probably useful.

Investing in fire golem would make a 120% damage boost. However I'm not sure about the stage at which it applies and how does it stack with might/fanaticism bonus. Pretty big bonus anyway, but will it be enough?

Also about life leech, given the low attack speed and damage it probably wont be able to leech the life back but he regenerates hp naturally very well and is immune to poison (it can be hit by poison attacks but cant be poisoned to prevent him from healing). Unless something kills it in 1-2 hits (ubers), IG is pretty durable guy .|||Black Lotus explained all about skills.

Some people use "aura items" to create IG - Beast (mentioned above), Insight, Pride or Infinity. I think it is too expensive, except Insight. Another items can give you very nice minion as well.

Golems have no nightmare/hell resistance penalty and no cap on resistances. Summon resist gives your minions 50-60@ res. If you create IG from shield 40-50@, your golem will be elemental immune.

IMO the best cheap items for IG is Minotaur ancient axe - slows target as clay golem and has CB - it is very useful against bosses, especially when you cannot find Udars for revieves.|||Auw, the attack speed is kinda sad to know, it pretty much ruins any viable damage dealing on him :P

I guess I'll stick to insights then for the iron golem, and figure out something else to put points in, thanks for the responses!

Maybe I'll go switch up some things to make it a summon/poison hybrid.. :P|||I Guardianed an IronGolemancer. Very good build. Max GM for life and FG for damage. As a another summons in a Fishy build, he will work well but will be overshadowed by the Skellie army and merc. But still gives good support. IK Mauls make good IGs for elemental damage and CB. Socket with Shaels for faster attack speed.|||Hm tell me about elemental damage on IK maul. Does it apply in this case? And given low base damage on it, is it noticeable?|||Yes IG can make ele dmg. I think that sword with 6 PTopaz can kill Normal Andy but Duriel can be risky

You mentioned about ele dmg and I think that Rift IG can be nice.|||crappy insight weapon is my fravoite base for iron golem|||I've done some research and have discovered that necro minions have a delay between attacks (apart from striking speed in frames) which takes ~15 frames. This way, IG will do no more than 1 attack per second, making it terrible damage dealer with ANY possible weapon.